regshoe

Frances Hodgson Burnett flat-out stole a bunch of the India stuff in The Secret Garden from Six to Sixteen. I think she thought she could do it better (which, in a way, she did), but it was pretty shameless and I have no idea why so few children's lit scholars mention the cribbing. (There's a book called Mrs. Ewing, Mrs. Molesworth, and Mrs. Hodgson Burnett, by Marghanita Laski, which I expected to say something about it, which IIRC simply doesn't mention Six to Sixteen at all.) Anyway I love Six to Sixteen very much, though it's got no plot and a dim title. I wish someone would do a scholarly edition of it (the serial publication is rather different, for one thing). Ewing's letters in Canada Home are great fun, too.